Where Gretchen Carlson’s $20 Million Settlement Ranks Among the Biggest Sexual Harassment Cases

When sexual harassment lawsuits come to light, many companies and individuals seek to settle the cases as quickly as possible to avoid extended bad publicity.

Take former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson’s lawsuit against her former boss Roger Ailes, for example. Just two months after she initially filed her sexual harassment lawsuit, 21st Century Fox announced on Tuesday that it had settled her claims for a whopping $20 million, and even offered her a public apology.

But for as much media coverage Carlson’s lawsuit received, that $20 million settlement is a drop in the bucket for some cases where plaintiffs have been awarded over $160 million by the courts.

Here’s a list of a few of some of the most famous sexual harassment settlements and awards in history, in order from least to greatest in awarded sums:

Paula Jones and President Bill Clinton, 1991

When former President Bill Clinton was the governor of Arkansas, a state employee by the name of Paula Jones accused Clinton of exposing himself to her and asking her for oral sex. Clinton denied all claims, and Jones dropped her case against Clinton in exchange for $850,000.

The Tailhook Convention, 1991

This case involved allegations against the United States armed forces. Among six other women, Former Navy lieutenant Paula Coughlin alleged that they she was sexually assaulted by drunken Naval and Marine officers who were attending a conference at Vegas’ Hilton Hotel. She ended up suing the hotel for a lack of adequate security, and won a $5.2 million judgment against the hotel.

Baker & McKenzie law firm and Rena Weeks, 1994

Former legal secretary Rena Weeks at Baker & McKenzie accused attorney Martin Greenstein of lunging at her chest, pouring M&Ms down her breast pocket, and grabbing at her hips. She was awarded $7.1 million in punitive damages by a San Francisco judge, although that amount was eventually dropped to $3.5 million.

A former UBS sales assistant and her supervisor, 2011

Carla C. Ingraham, a former employee at UBS, said her supervisor made repeated comments about her breast size, and asked her about sexual fantasies, among other things. She claimed UBS fired her after she complained, even though UBS said it prohibits retaliation against employees who complain of harassment. She was awarded $10.6 million.

Anucha Browne Sanders and New York Knicks coach Isiah Thomas, 2007

Anucha Browne Sanders, a former team executive for the Knicks, said she was fired after coach Isiah Thomas reportedly sexually harassed her for two years. A judge awarded her $11.6 million in punitive damages.

Gretchen Carlson and Fox News, 2016

Former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against her boss and former Fox CEO and chairman, Roger Ailes. Carlson didn’t sue Fox, but instead sued Ailes personally. She was awarded $20 million and was also issued an apology from Fox. After Carlson went public with her claims against Ailes, many other women followed suit.

Linda Gilbert and Chrysler, 1999

Linda Gilbert was the first woman millwright at Chrysler’s Jefferson North Assembly Plant in Detroit. She claimed that she was harassed by co-workers with sexually explicit photos and cruel names, and was awarded $21 million, which is supposedly the largest sum ever given to an individual sexual harassment plaintiff. But the Michigan Supreme court threw out her case in 2004 after deciding it was “clearly the product of passion and prejudice.”

Ralph’s Grocery Store and six female workers, 2002

Six female workers at Ralph’s grocery store in Escondido, Calif. were awarded $30 million after they claimed a store manager harassed them for an entire year. The claimed the manager fondled them, among other things. But after a state appeals court found the case was “constitutionally excessive,” the reward was reduced.

Ashley Alford and Aaron’s rent-to-own, 2011

Ashley Alford, an employee of Aaron’s was awarded $95 million after claiming the store’s manager not only sexually harassed her for a year, but assaulted her in 2006. The manager reportedly snuck up behind her while she was sitting in a stock room and hit her in the head with his penis. Her award was later reduced to $40 million because of a cap on federal damages.

Ani Chopourian and Mercy General Hospital, 2012

Ani Chopourian, who was a physician’s assistant at Mercy General Hospital in Sacramento, Calif., said doctors there constantly asked her for sex. A judge awarded her with $168 million.

From Chanel to Elie Tahari: Fashion greats embroiled in controversies

Elie Tahari, Ltd. is a fashion company founded by Israeli immigrant Elie Tahari in 1974. His philosophy is simple: “Clothing should be quieter than the woman so that her true beauty can shine through.”

Speaking of quiet women, Tahari may be wishing that fashion consultant Marcy Castelgrande were one right about now. On Friday, The New York Daily News reported that she filed a $12 million sexual harassment lawsuit against him.

The suit alleges that in an incident that occurred in December 2011, he touched her inappropriately in front of “at least ten people,” then fired her when she complained about it. The New York Daily News contacted both Tahari’s attorney and a spokesperson for the company, and both declined to comment.

This comes less than two months after designer Catherine Malandrino sued him for $15 million. According to her attorney, Tahari and his partner bought a 75 percent interest in her eponymous brand in 2011 for $5 million and a five-year compensation deal. But rather than expand it, he sold it to the brand management company Bluestar Alliance and allegedly cut her out of the $7 million deal.

“We are surprised that she has chosen this course of action and sure that the courts will agree that the lawsuit is completely baseless and without merit,” a Tahari spokesman said to The New York Post.

If there’s a there there, then Tahari joins the very long line of scandal-plagued fashion industry figures. This begs the question, is there something about this industry that causes high degrees of melodrama? Or are its personalities simply mercurial types who inspire gossip because they’re more famous than the rest of us?

Whatever the case, Tahari is not alone when it comes to fashion figures who made headlines for more than just their silhouettes. Some just made thoughtless remarks, while others engaged in behavior that was truly heinous.

3 ways your smartphone keeps your company’s lawyers up at night

Make no mistake, if it were up to your employer’s legal department, you’d come to work without your smartphone, your tablet, or even your cool new Apple watch. “We’re seeing a lot of the same problems that have always caused workplace lawsuits. But, with the technology people have now, it’s much easier for bad things to happen,” says Scott Fanning, an attorney at employment law firm Fisher & Phillips in Chicago. “Quicker, too.”

What kinds of bad things, exactly? Here are three examples:

Sexual harassment. Dating apps like Tinder and Happn are “really designed for bars and coffee shops, not workplaces,” Fanning says. “Some people use the GPS to instantly connect with other people in the same office building.” The contact might not be welcome, but “just having a profile on the site could be construed as permission to contact you. We’ve seen some cases of stalking and harassment come out of that.” He adds that “employees talking about their romantic escapades or bragging about hook-ups with coworkers” they met on dating sites have led to harassment suits, too.

Gossip. Yik Yak is mostly used by college students now, but Fanning says new grads are bringing the bulletin board into the workplace with them — and discovering Memo, another popular site “that’s actually designed for employees to vent about employers, working conditions, pay, and so on,” Fanning notes. Employers could safely ignore this kind of chatter, he says, if the anonymous commenters were always civil to each other. Alas, too often a thread deteriorates into “bullying or harassing, which companies then have a legal obligation to do something about,” ideally before things get really out of hand and somebody files a lawsuit.

Photos and recordings. It’s easier than ever now to abscond with confidential company information and drag it through the cloud onto a personal computer — or even, with apps like Periscope, upload it in real time directly to the Internet. But beyond that, “bosses have to be aware that anything they do or say can be recorded and used in litigation,” Fanning says. “We’ve had cases where an employee recorded two minutes out of a 20-minute termination meeting, and introduced it as evidence in court, even though it was completely out of context.”

Fanning’s clients have also come to him with “cases where an employee purposely left a recording device in an office restroom,” and stalking situations, “where an employee kept photographing a colleague without their permission, which is usually harmless but certainly creepy.”

Couldn’t employers avoid these headaches just by banning personal devices from the workplace? They could try — except that the National Labor Relations Board, in what Fanning calls “an attempt to stay relevant,” has issued regulations severely limiting employers’ ability to do anything that might keep employees from communicating with each other, in case they decide to unionize.

“So you need very narrowly tailored policies, tied to a specific business concern, like prohibiting personal devices beyond a certain point in the research-and-development department, for example,” Fanning says. “For companies, protecting their interests and their employees, while still satisfying the NLRB, is a delicate balancing act.”